Changes in the Wind
Disclaimer: CBS, creators, producers, etc., own these characters, not me. I'm just borrowing them.
A/N: This story was originally completed & posted in December. However, I realized sometime later that the journey for these two characters was far from over. Therefore, the story continues...
Changes in the Wind
A Price to Pay
"So, are you gonna help me or not?" Tim asked, looking up from the microscope in the direction of his friend.
"Still thinkin' about it," was Eric's reply, causing Tim to groan and return his attention to the specimen.
"It's not that big a deal. I just need to borrow your truck for a couple hours tonight," he said, feeling his frustration rise when it became apparent that Delko wasn't going to make this easy for him. "It'll save me from having to make several trips in my car. I don't even need your help loading it," Tim continued before being interrupted.
"Oh right. Like you're gonna move all that stuff yourself?" Eric questioned from his position at the counter.
"It's not that much stuff. The only big thing is my desk, I can do everything else myself," Tim said with exasperation as he glanced over his shoulder.
"She's actually letting you bring furniture? Sure she's seen any of it? Must be serious, or else it's true what they say about love being blind," Eric teased. "But then we already know that, cause she's with you," he said, laughing at his own joke.
"Must you comment on everything?" Tim asked looking up again, his voice dripping with annoyance. "Can you just answer the question?"
"So you do need my help?" Eric asked with a smirk, as he met his friend's eyes.
Knowing exactly where this conversation was heading, Tim scrubbed his face and raked his hands through his hair in frustration before answering. "Fine. I need your help. Happy now?"
"No, not happy. You want me to help you move into your girlfriend's apartment. Your girlfriend, the one I just found out you've been dating behind my back for the last four months. Someone who, might I remind you, is also my good friend and someone I work with every day. Every day. And you still think I should help you?" Eric asked, his expression now serious.
"Well, not if you're going to be like this, I don't," Tim mumbled, putting his head back over the microscope. "I still don't know why you're making such a big deal about this. I don't have to tell you everything that goes on in my life, Delko. We just thought it would be best to keep our relationship out of work. Like I'd like to be doing now," Tim groused.
This was just another reminder as to why he always knew mixing work and his personal life wasn't a good idea. Of course, the likelihood of keeping the two separate was no longer even a remote possibility after his very public display of affection at Alexx's Christmas party, a party which happened to be attended by a vast number of people he worked with, including his boss. But he really had no choice about that, they may have both been at the same party, but with the growing distance between them, they were clearly not together in more ways than one. If he wanted to close the chasm that had developed between them, one that he'd created, he had to make a rather bold move. She wasn't going to leave that party and spend her holidays in Louisiana without first knowing how he felt, which meant of course, taking their previously secret relationship public.
Oh well, he thought, thinking back to that night under the mistletoe, as a fleeting half smile crossed his lips, it was a small price to pay to repair the damage he had done to their relationship and to get Calleigh back in his arms. It was also a necessary step to take in order for them to ever be able to move forward in their relationship and it seemed as if that was what they both wanted. The downside, however, was that since news of the relationship had traveled around the building with the speed of a virus, he now had to deal with the fallout of that revelation, which included the bothersome questions, comments and snickers from everyone he encountered at work, not to mention his buddy's annoyance at having been kept in the dark. He wasn't sure which was worse, being a private person whose personal life was now the talk of the lab or dealing with his friends' varied reactions.
Then there was the whole business of having to explain to Lt. Horatio Caine, how two of his subordinates had managed to become romantically involved, yet kept this information from him for a few months. 'That was a pleasant encounter', Tim thought sarcastically. Kind of a surreal experience actually, as it was the equivalent of being reprimanded by a boss / mentor and disappointing a friend at the same time. Tim wasn't quite sure if Horatio minded that he had been kept unaware of their relationship, more as a supervisor or as a friend. All Tim wanted now was for the whole thing to die down and quickly at that, for he had about run out of patience.
Calleigh might be missing out on all the hoopla surrounding their relationship while she was out of town, but unless the lab gossips moved on to something else, she'd probably get it when she got back and would undoubtedly handle it better than he had. She could count though, on receiving from their boss the same stern lecture that he had gotten. They could date, he was told, as long as they kept their relationship out of the office, but would no longer be allowed to work the same cases because of potential conflict of interest.
That in itself presented a conflict for him, because now he didn't know which was worse, worrying about her when they were together in the field at a crime scene, or worrying about her when she was out in the field without him around. Just the thought of it made him shudder. There was no getting around it; he was going to worry about her no matter what, even though she didn't need him looking out for her whatsoever. The voice of his buddy pulled him out of his thoughts and brought him back to the current conflict at hand.
"Oh, you kept it out of the office alright. I didn't even think you liked her very much. You barely talked to her and when you did, you were always annoyed. Always," Eric emphasized. "I'm still surprised she gives you the time of day, if you want to know the truth," he continued with a sarcastic chuckle.
'So am I,' Tim thought. 'So am I.' "Think you're done now?" he asked, quickly losing patience.
"Hardly," Eric replied, causing Tim to groan loudly. "Wouldn't it have been nicer if you had told me, so I would've stopped trying to fix you up with anyone who would have you? I always wondered why Calleigh was glaring at me all those times. She's my friend, too, you know and she wasn't very happy with me. Now I know why," Eric told him pointedly.
"I know, I know," Tim replied with exasperation. "She wasn't very happy with me, either," he said, dropping his head. "Look, it was uncomfortable for everyone. Let's just drop it. Besides, it's not a secret any longer, you know now. And haven't we already had this conversation, more times than necessary?"
"Well, it's not even like you told me. The two of you joined at the lips at Alexx's party was the give away. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes…" Eric muttered in a huff.
Casting a glance in his direction, Tim caught the flash of hurt in his friend's eyes and sighed heavily. Obviously this was bothering him more than he realized, but as much as he wanted to smooth things over with Eric, he was still irritated at having to talk about his relationship at all and at work of all places.
"I'm sorry, alright? We explained everything to you that night and every time it's come up since then. Can we just stop talking about it now?" Tim asked, sounding more harassed than sincere in his apology, as he stood up from the microscope and leafed through the papers on the table. "Have you identified that leaf particle we found on the vic yet? 'Cause I've got the results from the soil sample and it might help pinpoint where the killing took place," Tim said, attempting to change the subject.
"Not sure yet, but I think I might be close," Eric replied tersely. A tense silence settled over the two as they worked, but the quiet didn't last for long. "If you found out I was sleeping with Calleigh behind your back, don't you think it would bother you?"
Stunned, Tim turned to meet his friend's gaze with widened eyes as he pondered that cryptic question. 'Delko and Calleigh?' he wondered. 'No, she would've told me, I know she would've. There was never anything between them,' "What?" Tim asked, trying to suppress the emotion on his face.
Immediately, Eric put up both hands in a defensive position. "Whoa… Relax. That came out all wrong. That's not what I meant. You know there's never been anything between us but friendship. I shouldn't have said it like that."
"Ya think?" Tim all but snarled at him.
"I'm sorry, but you should've seen your face," Eric replied with a chuckle. "You've got it pretty bad for her."
"Is there a point to this?" Tim questioned with the last of his patience waning by the second.
"I just wondered how you would've felt if the situation had been reversed, is all," Eric answered sheepishly.
"I don't know. I doubt I would've cared this much who you were seeing or for how long." 'As long as it wasn't Calleigh.'
"Yeah, whatever," Eric replied, now engrossed in the pages of the plant life book on the counter.
"I gotta go check on some samples I left for DNA. Page me when you're done here," Tim said before taking a deep breath. "I'm sorry Delko, you're right, I probably should've just told you. I thought about it, I'm sorry I didn't," he quickly added before walking away.
"So what time tonight?" Eric called to his back.
Sighing deeply, he turned once more to his friend. "I'm not sure. I'll call you, okay?"
"Yeah, I'll be around," Eric replied.
The remainder of the day passed in a blur of activity following leads and wrapping up the evidence. Feeling fortunate that he had gotten out of work at a reasonable hour, thanks to no last minute call-outs, he was relieved he had some time to finish packing before Eric showed up. Calleigh's absence over the last couple of days, had allowed him a chance to figure out just what he'd move from his apartment to hers and to begin boxing things up. The packing he didn't much mind, but the decision-making wasn't easy. The amount of clothing he packed was based upon the amount of space he estimated he'd have in the closet and the small dresser allocated to him. Good thing he didn't have a large wardrobe, he realized, after he'd first seen how packed her closet already was. Kitchen stuff could wait; he'd let her help choose what he should bring when she got home.
Books though, they outnumbered anything else in his apartment and choosing which ones he wanted around was proving to be the biggest hassle, but he couldn't bring them all, there simply wouldn't be room. Even adding a small bookcase of his own to what she already had in the apartment, wouldn't provide the necessary shelf space he needed. Glancing up and down at his floor to ceiling bookcase, he groaned in anticipation of this final task, but he only had an hour before Delko would be there so he had to get moving.
Moving out of his apartment haphazardly, leaving most of his belongings behind, was more disruptive than he originally thought. Space would be a premium at her place, since her smallish two-bedroom apartment was already packed with furniture and other household paraphernalia. They certainly didn't need doubles of everything. With four months to go on his lease, he had no immediate worries about what to do with the furniture and stuff he was leaving behind, but he would have to figure it out when the time came. Having access to his apartment still, meant he could go back to retrieve anything he needed, or move back if things didn't work out between them, but that was something he didn't want to dwell on. The time had come for forward thinking and positive forward thinking at that. He was tired of dwelling all the time on what might go wrong.
Certain he had made all the right packing decisions, he looked around the apartment once more feeling a bit wistful. Not exactly a sentimental guy, yet he still felt a kind of attachment for the place, his first home after making his way to Miami. Sinking into the old, faded blue couch, with the scattered wine stains and a cigarette hole made by a careless guest years ago, he realized this was not a piece of furniture he'd be missing. Though still comfortable, even he could see it had become an eyesore. He'd had his eye on a leather one for awhile now, he just never made the time for such shopping expeditions. Leather furniture, however, was probably not something Calleigh, with her love of all things patterned and floral, would ever go for, so it was for the best that he'd never bought it.
His eyes widened at that thought. Was he now thinking about everything in terms of Calleigh, he wondered? 'When did that happen? Probably a long time ago and I never saw it coming.' Occasionally, he questioned if maybe they were rushing things, as it was still relatively early in their romance and neither was probably the easiest to live with, nor had either ever cohabited before. But the idea of not being with her as often as he could when they weren't working was intolerable. The fear that they were making a mistake had begun to quiet down in his head after they'd talked about it for a couple of days and once she left town for her holiday visit with family, he found he was really warming up to the notion. The thought of moving in with Calleigh actually made him happy and that was really the thing that shocked him the most when he really thought about it, but there it was, as clear as a sunny, blue day in Miami for all to see: his happiness was now dependent on one Southern, blonde ballistics expert and his head was still spinning from the speed with which that had been accomplished.
TBC